Alleged Chinese Galaxy S4 variant photos appear online

The Samsung Galaxy S4 rumor mill has been churning in the run up to Thursday's big announcement event in New York City, but so far we've seen little to indicate what the upcoming handset might look like.

But today Chinese forum 52Samsung has posted what it says are images of a dual-SIM Galaxy S4 variant for China. The device in question carries the model number GT-i9502 and looks an awful lot like a Galaxy S3, with internals indicative of a flagship product. Black and white (or at least light grey) color variants are shown, and it seems the pattern on the back and front of the chassis has changed somewhat -- shots of the white and black versions show what looks like a grid pattern.

On the hardware side, shots from benchmarking app AnTuTu seem to reveal an Exynos 5410 (Exynos 5 Octa) CPU running at up to 1.8GHz with 2GB of RAM and a 1080p display. We also get a few glimpses of the phone's UI itself, which appears to match the shots that allegedly made their way out from an AT&T Galaxy S4 a few days back. Lurking beneath this new TouchWiz is Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean.

Now, there's absolutely no guarantee that the Galaxy S4 will actually look like this. If you followed the Galaxy S3 launch you'll remember that Samsung put out several pre-release versions of that phone, and in many instances used dummy cases to disguise its final design. Today's shots don't appear to show a dummy case, but that's not to say Samsung won't have several different Galaxy S4 prototype designs floating around.

So there you have it -- this may or may not be the Galaxy S4, but it's definitely something. We'll see if it matches up with the real thing at Samsung's event on Thursday evening.

I actually think they should stick to the plasic design....because if you drop it it is easier and cheaper to repair! also you can buy customizable 3rd party backings to show off..aluminum is nice, for pc's. anything that i might drop or scratch though...i want something easier.

It's hard to tell the quality of the screen from that pic but the white lettering certainly looks much whiter than the GS3 and the Note 2' screen. Perhaps they have fixed the blue subpixel stability issue. I cant wait to see how this screen compares to the HTC One.

I think they might keep a similar design with beefed up internals. They now have a popular enough form factor that third party manufacturers can begin to make accessories for it since the form factor is the same across carriers - similar to the iPhone. I expect them to continue to differentiate hardware, but the Galaxy and Galaxy Note series are likely to retain a similar form factor in order to perpetuate that ecosystem.

The HTC One has no external storage. You many not need more space than the 32 or 64 GB but others do. It has no removable battery. I may not need to change batteries but I want the option to. You can't turn off the BlankFeed. The Zoe file format is proprietary. This is definitely a no-go for me.

I get what you said and you are correct but i am willing to sacrifice those features for design and HTC is plain simple sexy, i prefer Samsung but i already own a gs3 i don't want the same design again.

Sometimes I don't understand. The screen is better, the internals are souped up, the software is tweaked. Why would they veer from a design you liked enough to buy the previous generation? Why do you need something that LOOKS different? So that people can see you bought a new phone? What has to change for it to be different enough for you to buy it? Literally everything except the overall shape is different.

The reason they would keep the shape similar is branding. When people see my phone, they immediately know it's a Galaxy S3. They ask about it, I tell them about it, and many of them have bought it. Not because of how it looks, per se, but because I love it, and they recognize it, so they associate my rave reviews to their image of the phone.

Yeah not to mention, the Galaxy S III was the first Galaxy S model where they kept it the same GLOBALLY. The original and the S II both had multiple variants for different carriers. Samsung got more control over the S III and made it the same design(except for internals) everywhere. I won't be shocked if this does turn out to be the S IV because going with similar aesthetics year over year hasn't hurt companies like RIM and Apple before (okay maybe RIM).

I agree with the point you make about the phone design not having to change for you to have a better phone, but when I buy something new I don't want it to look like my old one.

Plus you said "When people see my phone, they immediately know it's a Galaxy S3." Wouldn't the exact same thing happen if they decide to keep the same design for the s4? People would think its still the s3. Just my thoughts.

Exactly my point. he probably loves apple they are the only one that puts up the same design over and over and call it innovation because they add an S to the end, and what is worst is that people like him believe it.

If you like apple mentality i respect you for that having the same phone with minor change in the inside well that's fine, but not me why would i want to buy something new that looks like my old one? then why buy it why not just keep the one you already have? i know apple would love you, very easy to convince.

I really like the design of my galaxy nexus..If I got another phone that looked exactly alike but had way better specs, screen, battery, etc... What do I care what it looks like my old phone? I don't want to show off my phone, i just want to use it!

They call it the Nexus 4...but the improved build quality and materials are definitely apparent on the N4. When I still had both (with cases on), you may pickup one expecting the other. Just two beautiful black slabs on glass : )

I completely expect the S4 to look VERY similar to the S3. Just better specs. The reasons SHOULD be obvious to you. We're not talking Apple here. That said, plenty of OEMs could learn a few things about brand recognition and marketing from them. You've seen Sammy commercials...they paid attention to Apple's marketing. Now they have the brand recognition, any you expect them to throw it away and start with a brand new design? There's a reason why you can still see design cues in the 2013 Mustang from the 1964 (1/2) model.

not worried about storage, have skydrive, box.net, dropbox. For Music Play Music(Google Music). I think it was a bold decision for HTC to put blinkfeed on it, and they didn't decide to allow disabling it because is what sets them apart from the rest. Zoe is proprietary and that's a bummer, but if people complaint enough I am sure they will enable you to share it for a longer period than 30 days. I do hope that samsung brings another design, but if it doesn't there is no point on getting a phone with last years design thinking of apple now with the 4 and 4S. The difference is that more cores are becoming irrelevant, at some point performance difference won't be noticeable, so it comes to design language, battery life, camera and display, that's about it.

It does but slightly less rounded and it looks like they put a 5" screen in the same body as if you look carefully the bezel size is much smaller all round which I am so happy about cause I dont really want a bigger device than the s3.

Another homerun...but since nothing is ever good enough, I'm sure it'll take its fair share of browbeating. They could create a phone that could read the user's mind and morph into exactly what the user's idea of what the perfect device is and people would still find something to bitch about.

They just feel the need to say something, and comments are usually exaggerations, or and this is just as likely, they care more about how a phone looks than it's feature's. It's all about having the newest slickest looking phone because they think it impresses people.

Well one thing that really bothered me since the S3 was the glossy back, which gets scratched easily, I prefer matte plastic at least, that hyperglazed finish brings so many fingerprints that it just bothers me. Other designs could have been a better option, not saying this is the final build because I am not sure it is, but I think they need to get rid of the Physical home button, and get on screen buttons or even keep 3 capacitive buttons

That camera lens is gawdy and ugly. The gloss!!!!!! Samsung....please no! Hopefully this is not the real phone. Based on the comments of the Samsung employee, I believe that the trim is aluminum. That would be great, but damn them for the high gloss plastic uggggh

Yes there are some marginal differences, but it's more or less exactly like the S3. Don't go down the same non-innovative path Apple has gone down Samsung, because if this phone and then the S5 after it look basically exactly the same as the S3, then I'll happily take my money to HTC, or buy a Nexus.

Actually, the accelerated life cycle is a great idea. You capitalize on the hype of the previous generation, and then you give it a one-up with the new generation, thereby re-igniting the hype for a whole new generation. This encourages the prior generation's early-adopters to plop down the big bucks to stay with the newest generation. It's very Apple, but it's very Money. And who doesn't like money.

Same here. I actually like having a home button.When I take my note 2 out of my pocket, my thumb is already pressing the button before it leaves my pocket, & my screen is on and ready to use by the time it is in view. Part of the reason I chose the Note 2(and GS3 prior)

There's good things about having two ways to turn on the screen. It's much easier to press the home button when you pull the phone out of your pocket, rather than finding the power button while trying to grip the device. Also, you don't beat up the power button so much when you've got two ways to turn on the screen. I've seen many previous generation Samsung devices whose power buttons have failed before the end of the device life.

Exactly! You have seen power buttons on Samsung devices fail. My wifes did on her GS2. Do you think the home button is made any better? You are rationalizing having the extra button so you have 2 ways to turn it on? There is no need for a physical home button anymore. IMHO it takes away from the looks of the device.

When I try to go to my home page out of a text I always end up hitting the space bar and inserting a word thus saving a draft. I just find this extremely irritating. I hit things on the bottom of my screen all the time and it is ugly. I liked the button setup on my EVO LTE the best but I love my Note 2 overall and would never trade...just wish i could have the old button setup.

This looks very much like a Samsung device but China had some great s3 and note clone that this very much just be a fake s4 in what the Chinese company thinks its going too look like...even if this is the s4 its fine, I like the minimal bezels and looks like its using some aluminium.

Agreed. I like the function of my S3 but the physical design is nothing special. I dislike the home button and the VERY slippery back cover.

But it it works great (other than the GPS. I see they still haven't nailed this down. It started with the Fascinate.) I hope this isn't the US S4 especially since Verizon has stupidly decided not the sell the HTC One.

If this is real, I will stick with my S3. I like the flash and speaker placement on the S3 better. For some reason I expected the S4 to be more squared and a little larger. I might take a look at the Note2 or Note3

You'll be disappointed with the Nexus 5 too : p Just get a N4. S4 is an incremental hardward upgrade to N4 just as the S3 was to the gnex (owned them both for ages). The software on the Nexi more than make up for the incremental hardware...IN MY HOLIER THAN THOU OPINION.

It makes complete sense. Samsung is not trying to win you over with brushed aluminium and sapphire crystals. They are all about getting them out the door with the best user experience, quickly and as low cost as possible. Now who is the biggest smartphone manufacturer again?

It seems like they know something a lot of technoratti don't. Most people don't care that much about the design of a phone, how it works is what the majority of people care about.

If you like design that much, I think Vertu might have a phone right up your alley.

Something I've noticed that's intriguing me is that, on the 5th image, the "About" screen shows the device as having a total of 9029.7 MB (just over 9 GB) of storage space. That's too little for a 16GB version and obviously too much for an 8GB version. Very odd.

Its been less than a year, why do a complete overhaul of the design thats winning? the fact that the front looks like the S3 looks fine, i will be honest and say Samsung messed up n the back of the phone, that looks terrible...If this is the real deal, im completely fine with my galaxy S3...especially when it receives 4.2.1 and further down the line key lime pie...Front looks fine, Back is terrible...specs will be completely awesome

I kind of like the texture of the back. Looks like a fabric weave encased in, of course, some sort of plastic resin or what have you. That said, it still gets a "meh" response and hope it's a Chinese knock-off.

Phone is still a beast. Thursday will hopefully prove to be more interesting form-wise.

i love the Samsung look and i love the Samsung screens. but i hate the home button and other 2 on the side of it. the onscreen buttons are the way to go. got the galaxy nexus and my next phone will have on-screen keys too. unfortunately, nothing to choose from but nexus 4 (which is not on VZW). i'm really hoping X phone has on-screen buttons.

This is going to be an interesting year. The HTC One and GSIV are being released at the same time. And the HTC One is in another league as far as build quality. I have a sneaky suspicion that the general public might be more prone to choosing the astounding HTC build quality when looking at the two phones side-by-side. It's going to be a much better overall phone.

I have a Nexus 4 so I'm unbiased. I'm not in the market for a phone. But I have always hated the cheap shiny plastic of the Samsung phones. This is going to be very interesting since the HTC One looks incredible. What a beauty it is!

While I completely understand what you are saying, until recently I had a LTE gnex, SGS3, Note 2 (to flip), and the Nexus 4. I used the gnex over the SGS3 (both custom 4.2.x) and got rid of them all for the Nexus 4. Made money trading up, and saving more money every month, BUT in real world useage my gnex was almost as beastly as my N4. On paper it's not even close. Point is, we're reaching a point where hardware specs aren't making much diffenrece to the end user (even power users). So people will turn to design, astetics, and software/user experience to choose their devices. IMO software is king, and that's why I rock a Nexus. Oh, and saving all that money lol.

If that is indeed the new s4, I'll be getting the one. That looks exactly like the s3 already. I honestly hope they changed the design of it at least slightly so I can have a harder decision on which one to get lol.

The pictures actually kind of add up to the second teaser for the s4. The kid said it was his "favorite color" while eating oreos, which are both black and white in color. The phone in the picture is black on the front and white on the back. Still could be a dummy phone, but I think those will be the colors on the real one.

This is probably a case decoy on top of the actual S4 like they did with the S3 last year. If you look closely at the top of the phone in the grey area with the sensors, there seems to be a checkered diamond pattern where the light hits it, that is what gives it away I think.

I wonder if the phone could actually be made of carbon-fiber... That's what that weaving pattern looks like (and matches the ad for the march 14 event). I imagine it could be a cool alternative to plastic and aluminum... The strength of steel, the weight of plastic.

I doubt that this is actually what the s4 will look like ! This looks a little like a smaller note 2 which is not a bad thing really but i think sammy will drop something a little different to the pictures.

I don't think this is the new GS4 we see in these pictures . Remember China is good at copying. Can't trust everything from them. Remember the GSIII had a lot of dummie shells that came out before it was released and those dummie shells looked nothing like the actual real phone. Just be patient. 3/14/2013 is tomorrow and then we can talk about the screen, ui, storage, and all that other stuff.

I had a galaxy s2 and 3 a note 1 and note 2 i also have had the nexus s and galaxy nexus loved them all. Also had tons of HTC phone also loved them a lot especially the original EVO, But have to say i never bought a phone for how it looks if i did i would have a iphone 5 or a nexus 4 or even a LG Optimus G. Im buying the phone based on innovation, whats new? How will i use that day to day? Do i really need that? I think Samsung has captured that aspect as far as innovation goes, there not just loading there phones with hi pixel cameras or beats audio or just new software or bigger brighter screens. As much as you hate touch wiz there tons of cool things it does that other UI's are not capable of doing i mean there motion gestures alone are awsome. I can careless if the phone was plastic i would stick a kickstand case on it regardless so i can play old school roms with my PS3 controller.I cant wait to see with they bring to the table tomorrow.

I had a galaxy s2 and 3 a note 1 and note 2 i also have had the nexus s and galaxy nexus loved them all. Also had tons of HTC phone also loved them a lot especially the original EVO, But have to say i never bought a phone for how it looks if i did i would have a iphone 5 or a nexus 4 or even a LG Optimus G. Im buying the phone based on innovation, whats new? How will i use that day to day? Do i really need that? I think Samsung has captured that aspect as far as innovation goes, there not just loading there phones with hi pixel cameras or beats audio or just new software or bigger brighter screens. As much as you hate touch wiz there tons of cool things it does that other UI's are not capable of doing i mean there motion gestures alone are awsome. I can careless if the phone was plastic i would stick a kickstand case on it regardless so i can play old school roms with my PS3 controller.I cant wait to see with they bring to the table tomorrow.

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